DE112006000126B4 - Method and media access controller for mesh networks with adaptive quality-of-service management - Google Patents

Abstract

Media Access Controller comprising: - a Quality of Service Manager for monitoring the consumed bandwidth of a current Application Flow and comparing the consumed bandwidth with an agreed bandwidth for the current Application Flow; and a dispatch manager for coordinating access to a wireless communication channel for communication with other nodes of a wireless mesh network, wherein the quality of service manager is arranged to instruct the haul manager to request additional resources for the current application flow, after the bandwidth consumed is significantly less than the agreed bandwidth, and wherein a transmitting node receiving the request, in response to the request for additional resources, is adapted to augment a contention window for a lower quality of service level application flow, wherein the transmitting node is one of other nodes of the wireless mesh network for transmitting the current application flow.

Description

Technical area

The present invention relates to a media access controller, a method for managing application flows, a wireless router, a system, and a machine-readable medium.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to wireless communication. Some embodiments of the present invention relate to mesh networks, and some embodiments relate to media access control.

background

Wireless mesh networks, including home digital networks, may include multiple wireless communication nodes that transmit and route communications between them for various applications. This communication may be associated with a particular application flow that has agreed (ie requested) quality of service (QoS) level requirements. Examples of Higher QoS Level Application Flows are High Definition Television (HDTV) Flows, Standard Television (SDTV) Flows, Streaming Video Flows and Voice Flows. A problem with traditional mesh networks is that Lower QoS Level Application Flows, such as Background and Best Effort Flows, can adversely affect Higher QoS Level Flows because it does not effectively manage access to the transmission medium leading to disruptive receive patterns in the Receiving node of the network leads.

The US 2004/0228274 A1 discloses a bandwidth monitor for monitoring the bandwidth of a packet entering a network and for transmitting priority packets preferentially over other packets, whereby if the incoming packets do not violate the (contract) bandwidth and are not among the priority packets, then the packets transmit as if they belonged to the priority packages.

The object of the present invention is therefore to mitigate the effects of the lower QoS level application flows on the higher QoS level.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by a media access controller according to claim 1, a method according to claim 16, a wireless router according to claim 31, a system according to claim 34 and a machine-readable medium according to claim 37.

The respective subclaims relate to respective advantageous embodiments thereof.

Brief description of the drawings

1A Fig. 10 illustrates a wireless mesh network in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention;

1B highlights the effects of Lower Quality-of-Service (QoS) Level Application Flows on Higher QoS Level Multimedia Application Flows;

2 FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a wireless communication device in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention; FIG. and

3 FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a Mesh Network Quality of Service (QoS) management procedure in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

Detailed description

The following description and drawings illustrate particular embodiments of the invention in order to enable those skilled in the art to do so. Other designs may include structural, logical, electrical, procedural, and other changes. Examples merely represent possible modifications. Individual components and functions are optional unless explicitly required, and the sequence of operations may vary. Portions and features of some embodiments may be included or substituted for others. Embodiments of the invention set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalents of these claims. Embodiments of the invention may be indicated individually or collectively by the term "invention" merely for convenience and without intending to limit the scope of this application voluntarily to a single invention or inventive concept when in fact more than one is disclosed.

1A FIG. 10 illustrates a wireless mesh network in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. The wireless mesh network 100 includes a plurality of wireless communication nodes 102 communicating with each other over one or more wireless communication channels 104 to be able to communicate. In some embodiments, at least some of the communication nodes communicate 102 with other nodes 102 using only one communication channel. Although the wireless mesh network 100 represented as a multichannel mesh network, the scope of the invention is not limited thereto.

In the wireless mesh network 100 For example, transmissions that include an application flow can have multiple nodes 102 go through (ie several hops) and nodes 102 can be shared resources of wireless communication channels 104 fight. In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, the nodes 102 perform a resource management procedure to coordinate the provisioning of the wireless channel for more than one application flow for multiple hops. Furthermore, the nodes can 102 in some embodiments, execute permission control methods to help prevent various priority applications from interfering with each other. In some of these embodiments, a resource adjustment management process may help resolve the conflicts by balancing lower priority application flows. This will be discussed in more detail below.

1B Highlights the Effects of Lower Quality-of-Service (QoS) Level Application Flows on Higher QoS Level Multimedia Application Flows. 1B Sets the data rate in bits per second of multiple application flows 150 as a function of time. The application flows 150 may be communicated over the same channel between one or more nodes of a conventional wireless mesh network. The application flows 150 may have Higher QoS Level Application Flows, such as High-Definition Television (HDTV) Application Flow 158 , Standard Television (SDTV) Application Flow 156 and Streaming Video Application Flow 154 , The application flows 150 Lower QoS level application flows, such as Background Data Traffic Application Flow 152 , exhibit.

In a traditional wireless mesh network, streaming video application flow begins 154 both the HDTV application flow 158 as well as the SDTV application flow 156 to influence if its transmission in time 162 starts. In a traditional wireless mesh network, the background data traffic flow begins 152 the HDTV Application Flow 158 noticeably affecting when its transmitting at the time 164 begins and until the transmission time 160 ongoing. In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, the effects of the lower QoS level application flows on the higher QoS level can be mitigated by adaptive QoS management operations, as described in more detail below. Although high QoS level application flows in 1B are shown as streamed flows, the scope of the invention is not limited thereto.

2 FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a wireless communication device in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. FIG. The wireless communication device 200 may be for use as nodes, such as one or more of the nodes 102 ( 1A ) in a wireless mesh network, although the scope of the invention is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the wireless communication device 200 a wireless mesh network router, although the scope of the invention is not limited thereto.

The wireless communication device 200 can be one or more layers of a Protocol Stack Including Physical (PHY) Layer 202 , Media Access Control (MAC) Layer 204 and higher layer layers 206 exhibit. Layers of higher levels 206 can be application flows 218 and 220 to the Media Access Control Layer 204 provide. The media access control layer 204 can coordinate access to a communication channel and MAC data 205 (ie MAC packet data units) for transmission to other nodes of a mesh network using physical storage 202 produce.

In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, the media access control layer 204 a Quality of Service (QoS) Manager 208 to monitor a consumed bandwidth of a current application flow and to compare the consumed bandwidth with an agreed bandwidth for the current application flow. The media access control layer 204 can also have a dispute manager 210 for coordinating access to a wireless communication channel (ie the transmission medium) for communication with other nodes of the wireless mesh network. In these embodiments, the QoS Manager 208 the dispute manager 210 instruct to apply signaling to request additional resources for a current application flow after the captured bandwidth of the current application flow is significantly less than the agreed bandwidth.

The agreed bandwidth may relate to an amount of channel resource that an application flow is capable of utilizing, and may be held available when a service flow is allowed to a node. If an application flow works within the scope of the agreed bandwidth, it should meet its "agreed" QoS requirements. In other words, an HDTV flow, for example, will provide an acceptable HDTV picture, and an SDTV flow, for example, will provide an acceptable SDTV picture. If the assumed bandwidth of the current application flow is significantly lower than the agreed bandwidth, then the application flow did not receive enough of the channel resource to meet its requirements. This may be because low priority application flows are consuming too much bandwidth, or because other multimedia applications have violated their QoS agreements and are using more bandwidth than necessary.

A transfer node dispatch manager receiving the request for additional channel resources increases a contention window for a lower quality of service level application flow in response to the request for additional resources. The transmitting node may be one of the other nodes of the wireless mesh network that transmits the current application flow to the current node. In some embodiments, the mover manager of a transmitting node may significantly increase or double its contention window to reduce the bandwidth for one or more lower quality-of-service level application flows to provide additional bandwidth for a higher quality of service level application flow To provide usage.

In some embodiments, the signaling provided by the conflict manager 210 is used, include setting a flag bit in the reply packets to request at one or more transmitting nodes to provide greater bandwidth for the current application, although the scope of the invention is not so limited. In some embodiments, the Flag bit may be set in Request-to-Send (RTS) packets or Clear-to-Send (CTS) packets (eg, at one), while in other embodiments, a Flag bit in a Data packet header may be set, although the scope of the invention is not limited thereto.

Some embodiments may involve resetting the dispute window. In these embodiments, the dispute manager 210 the current node (eg, the wireless communication device 200 ) use signaling to instruct the transmitting node to reset the contention window after the captured bandwidth is no longer significantly less than the agreed bandwidth. In some embodiments, the flag bit may be reset (eg, to zero) to indicate that the current application is no longer receiving less than the agreed bandwidth. The transfer node's mismatch manager can slowly reduce or reset the contention window for lower quality-of-service level application flows to allow them to increase their bandwidth usage.

In some embodiments, the dispute manager 210 of the current node to respond to the requests from one or more of the other nodes of the wireless mesh network for additional resources for an application flow. In these embodiments, the dispute manager 210 Increase a contention window for a Lower Quality-of-Service Level Application Flow in response to these requests.

In some embodiments, one or more service flows may be terminated at the current node based on their profile. These configurations can be the Quality-of-Service Manager 208 terminate one or more Lower Quality-of-Service Level Flow Applications after the bandwidth consumed remains significantly less than the agreed bandwidth for a current Higher QoS Level Application Flow, even after the mismatch manager of the transmitting node suspends the contention window for the one or more has increased several lower quality-of-service level application flows. In some embodiments, the quality-of-service manager 208 One or more Lower Quality-of-Service Level Application Flows 218 based on their application profile 214 to finish. The application profile 214 can display a priority of an associated application flow.

In some embodiments, a current application flow may be one of a plurality of higher QoS level application flows 220 be. Higher Quality-of-Service Level Application Flows 220 can be one or more Voice (VO) Application Flow or a Video (VI) Application Flow. Examples of Higher QoS Level Flows 220 may be multimedia application flows, such as High Definition Television (HDTV) Application Flow, Standard Television (SDTV) Application Flow, Streaming Video Application Flow, and Voice Application Flow. Lower Quality-of-Service Level Application Flows 218 may be Background (BK) and Best Effort (BE) application flows, such as Email Application Flow, an Internet Application Flow, a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Application Flow, a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) Application Flow, and a Universal Datagram Protocol (UDP) Application Flow, although the scope is not limited to this. In some embodiments, the priority of an application flow may be determined by the QoS requirements of the application flow. Alternatively, in some embodiments, a user may choose the priority of the application flows. The priority can be with the application profiles 214 get saved. For example, HDTV may have a higher priority application flow than SDTV, and SDTV may have a higher priority application flow than streaming video, etc., although the scope of the invention is not limited thereto.

In some embodiments, the QoS manager may be 208 the dispute manager 210 instruct, either provide additional bandwidth for Lower Quality-of-Service Level Application Flows or delay the transmissions of the current Application Flow after the bandwidth consumed is significantly greater than the agreed bandwidth.

If the bandwidth consumed is significantly larger than the agreed bandwidth, an application flow consumes too much of the channel resource, which can be much more than it needs. This may also mean that the application flow is aggressive or wrong and potentially can affect the performance of other application flows. Reducing the bandwidth consumed by these application flows should not decrease their performance. In some embodiments, the dispute manager 210 Increase a dispute window for a current application to delay the transmissions of the current application flow after the captured bandwidth is significantly greater than the agreed bandwidth.

In some embodiments, the dispute manager 210 with the physical layer 206 communicate. In some of these embodiments, the physical layer 206 With Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed (EFDM) communication signals communicate with one or more of the other nodes of a wireless mesh network, although the scope of the invention is not limited thereto. The orthogonal frequency division multiplexed communication signals may include a plurality of closely spaced orthogonal subcarriers, although the scope of the invention is not limited thereto.

In order to help achieve orthogonality between the closely spaced subcarriers of an OFDM signal, each subcarrier may have a zero substantially at a center frequency of the other subcarriers. In some embodiments, to help achieve the orthogonality between the closely spaced subcarriers of an OFDM signal, each subcarrier may have an integral number of cycles within a symbol period.

In some embodiments, the communication device 200 be a multichannel node and communicate in a multichannel mesh network. In these embodiments, the physical layer 206 have two or more transmitters and may communicate with at least some of the other nodes of the mesh network with two or more orthogonal communication channels, although the scope of the invention is not so limited. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, the physical layer 206 to two or more antennas 216 for simultaneously transmitting and / or receiving two or more data streams to one or more of the other nodes of the wireless mesh network, although the scope of the invention is not limited thereto. The antennas 216 may be one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, DF antennas, microstrip antennas or other types of antennas used to receive and / or transmit RF signals through the device 200 are suitable.

In some embodiments, the dispute manager 210 Execute an Enhanced Distributed Coordinated Access (EDCA) procedure to access a wireless communication channel (ie the transmission medium). An increase in the dispute window by the dispute manager 210 can be a back-off time for transfers through the physical layer 206 increase, which changes a probability to get access to the channel. In some embodiments, increasing the back-off time may delay the transmissions, resulting in reduced bandwidth consumption. The contention window may be considered as an amount of delay before a data packet is transmitted to another node. In some embodiments, the contention window may be considered as an amount of delay before a previously transmitted data packet is retransmitted to another node after the first transmission results collided with transmissions from other nodes. A variable dispute window changes the probability of subsequent collisions. Increasing the contention window, in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, may also reduce the bandwidth consumed by the application flow.

In some embodiments, the media access controller 104 an access controller 212 exhibit to one or more of the application flows 218 and 220 to the network and an agreed bandwidth for each approved application flow to the Quality of Service Manager 208 ready injury. In some embodiments, the access of the application flows may be based on the variable bandwidth, although the scope of the invention is not limited thereto.

In some embodiments, the admission control for application flows may be distributed across the mesh network, although the scope of the invention is not so limited. In these embodiments, the application flows can be admitted at a network level.

Although the wireless communication device 200 is represented by a plurality of separate functional elements, one or more functional elements may be combined and configured by software-configured combinations Elements, such as processing elements including digital signal processors (DSPs) and / or other hardware elements. For example, processing elements may include one or more microprocessors, DSPs, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), and combinations of various hardware and logic circuits for performing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, the functional elements of the device 200 involve one or more processes running on one or more processing elements.

3 FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a Mesh Network Quality of Service (QoS) management procedure in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. The mesh network QoS management procedure 300 can through a node of a mesh network, such as nodes 200 ( 2 ) when in a wireless mesh network 100 ( 1 ) operated. In some embodiments, the mesh network QoS management procedure 300 through each node of a mesh network, although the scope of the invention is not limited thereto. The performance of the procedure 300 may allow a node to manage a QoS level of an approved application flow by providing distributed coordination of QoS management, by managing multi-hop contention and / or managing resource contention. In some embodiments, the procedure may 300 for each application flow allowed to the network by a node acting as a router in the network, concurrently.

The operation 302 includes determining the agreed bandwidth for each allowed application flow. surgery 302 may also include allowing one or more application flows at the node. In some embodiments, the agreed bandwidth may be provided by another node of the network, or may be known from the application flow itself (ie, the nature of the flow), although the scope of the invention is not limited thereto.

The operation 304 includes monitoring the bandwidth consumed for each application flow. In some embodiments, the surgery may 304 through the QoS Manager 208 ( 2 ), although the scope of the invention is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, a node may monitor the bandwidth that is currently deployed (used) for each application flow.

The operation 306 involves comparing the captured bandwidth with the agreed bandwidth for a given approved application flow.

The operation 308 includes determining if the captured bandwidth is significantly less than the agreed bandwidth for a particular approved application flow. If the bandwidth taken is significantly less than the agreed bandwidth, the operation becomes 310 executed. If the captured bandwidth is not significantly less than the agreed bandwidth, the operation becomes 318 executed.

The operation 310 includes using signaling to request additional resources from one or more transmitting nodes (e.g., the one or more nodes of the network that transmit the application flow on a multihop path to the current node). In some embodiments, a flag is set in Reply Packets that indicates a request for additional bandwidth, although the scope of the invention is not limited thereto.

The operation 312 includes waiting for at least a predetermined number of packet transmissions before the operation 314 determines if the captured bandwidth is still significantly less than the agreed bandwidth. If the bandwidth taken is still significantly less than the agreed bandwidth, then the operation becomes 316 executed. If the bandwidth taken is not significantly less than the agreed bandwidth, the status block 322 indicate that the bandwidth consumed is within the scope of the agreed bandwidth. In some alternative embodiments, if the captured bandwidth is not significantly less than the agreed bandwidth, then the operation may 318 be executed.

The operation 316 includes terminating at least one or more lower priority application flows. In some embodiments, the surgery may 316 Terminate lower priority application flows until the captured bandwidth is no longer significantly less than the agreed bandwidth. In some embodiments, when a node terminates an application flow, the packets belonging to a terminated application flow may be dropped. In some embodiments, the node may signal the source node, which may be a different node, to refrain from entering the application flow into the network, although the scope of the invention is not limited thereto. After completion of the operation 316 can the status block 322 indicate that the bandwidth consumed is within the scope of the agreed bandwidth. In some alternative embodiment, the operation may be 318 after completion of the operation 316 be executed.

The operation 318 includes determining if the occupied bandwidth for an application flow is significantly greater than the agreed bandwidth for the application flow. If the captured bandwidth for an application flow is significantly greater than the bandwidth consumed by the application flow, the operation may 320 be executed. If the bandwidth consumed for an application flow is not significantly greater than the agreed bandwidth for the application flow, the status block can 322 indicate that the bandwidth consumed is within the range of the agreed bandwidth.

The operation 320 involves delaying the transfer of the current application to reduce its resource consumption. In some embodiments, the surgery may 320 providing some of the bandwidth occupied by the current application to one or other lower QoS level applications, although the scope of the invention is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the surgery may 320 be executed until the occupied bandwidth for the current application flow is no longer significantly greater than the agreed bandwidth for the current application flow.

The status block 322 may indicate that the bandwidth consumed is within the scope of the agreed bandwidth, indicating that the application flow is getting and using sufficient bandwidth to meet its QoS requirements and that excessive bandwidth is not being used by the application flow.

Although the individual operations of the procedure 300 As shown and described as separate operations, one or more of the individual operations may be performed concurrently and nothing requires the operations to be performed in the order shown. Unless otherwise stated, terms such as processing, computing, calculating, determining, displaying, and the like, refer to an act and / or process of one or more processing or computer systems or similar devices that collect the data that is physical (e.g. electronic) quantities within the registers or memories of a processing system, manipulate and transform, or other information storage, transmission or display devices.

Embodiments of the invention may be implemented individually or as a combination of hardware, firmware, and software. Embodiments of the invention may also be embodied as instructions stored on a machine-readable medium that can be read and executed by at least one processor to perform the operations described herein. A machine-readable medium may be any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). For example, a machine-readable medium may be a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk storage medium, an optical storage medium, flash memory devices, electrical, optical, acoustic or other forms of propagating signals (eg, carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals, etc.) and others.

The abstract is provided to conform to 37 C.F.R. Section 1.72 (b), which requires a summary that enables the reader to ascertain the nature and nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to limit or interpret the scope or meaning of the claims.

In the foregoing detailed description, several features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose of rationalized disclosure. This approach of the disclosure is not intended to be construed as an intent that the claimed embodiments of the subject matter require more features than those expressly recited in each claim. Rather, the invention may be in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment, as the following claims reflect. Therefore, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the detailed description, with each claim standing for its own separate preferred embodiment.

Claims (39)

Media Access Controller comprising: - a Quality of Service Manager for monitoring the consumed bandwidth of a current Application Flow and comparing the consumed bandwidth with an agreed bandwidth for the current Application Flow; and a dispatch manager for coordinating access to a wireless communication channel for communication with other nodes of a wireless mesh network, wherein the quality of service manager is arranged to instruct the haul manager to request additional resources for the current application flow, after the bandwidth consumed is significantly less than the agreed bandwidth and wherein a transmitting node handles the request in response to the request for additional resources, is adapted to augment a contention window for a lower quality of service level application flow, wherein the transmitting node is one of other nodes of the wireless mesh network for transmitting the current application flow , Media Access Controller according to claim 1, characterized in that the contention manager uses the signaling for requesting additional resources, wherein the signaling used includes setting a flag bit in reply packets to indicate that one or more transmitting nodes a larger bandwidth for the current application Provide flow. The media access controller of claim 1, characterized in that the contention manager is further adapted to use the signaling to instruct the transmitting node to reset the contention window after the occupied bandwidth is no longer significantly less than the agreed bandwidth. The media access controller of claim 1, characterized in that upon request of one or more of the other nodes of the wireless mesh network, the contention manager responds to additional resources for the current application flow, the contention manager being arranged to issue a contention window in response to the request for a Lower Quality-of-Service Level Application Flow Increase. The media access controller of claim 1, characterized in that the quality of service manager is arranged to terminate one or more lower quality of service level application flows after the captured bandwidth is significantly less than the agreed bandwidth for the current application Flow remains even after the transmitting node has increased the contention window for the one or more Lower Quality-of-Service Level Application Flows. The media access controller of claim 5, wherein the Quality of Service Manager is configured to select one or more lower quality of service level application flows for termination based on an application profile, wherein the application profile is a priority of an associated one Displaying application flows. Media Access Controller according to claim 6, characterized in that the current application flow is one of a plurality of Higher Quality-of-Service Level Application Flows, wherein the Higher Quality-of-Service Level Application Flows one or more of a Voice Application Flows or of a video application flow, and where the one or more higher quality of service level application flows include background and best effort application flows. Media Access Controller according to claim 7, characterized in that the video application flow includes one or more multimedia application flows including a high-definition television application flow, a standard television application flow, and a streaming video application flow, and wherein the background and best effort application Flows include one or more of an Email Application Flow, an Internet Application Flow, a File Transfer Protocol Application Flow, a Transmission Control Application Flow, and a Universal Datagram Protocol Application Flow. The media access controller of claim 1, characterized in that the quality of service manager is further configured to instruct the contention manager to either provide additional bandwidth for lower quality of service level application flows or to delay the transmissions of the current application flow, after the occupied bandwidth is significantly larger than the agreed bandwidth. The media access controller of claim 9, characterized in that the contention manager is arranged to augment a contention window for the current application flow to delay transmissions of the current application flow after the captured bandwidth is significantly greater than the agreed bandwidth. The media access controller of claim 1, wherein the contention manager is connected to a physical layer that communicates Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed Communication signals to one or more of the other nodes of the wireless mesh network, the Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed Communication signals Comprise a plurality of substantially orthogonal subcarriers. The media access controller of claim 11, characterized in that the mesh network is a multi-channel mesh network and wherein the physical layer is arranged to communicate with at least some of the other nodes of the mesh network with two or more orthogonal communication channels. Media access controller according to claim 11, characterized in that the physical layer with at least two or more antennas for transmitting two or more data streams connected to one or more of the other nodes of the wireless mesh network. The media access controller of claim 1, characterized in that the contention manager performs an Enhanced Distributed Coordinated Access procedure for accessing the wireless communication channel and wherein an expansion of the contention window by the contention manager provides a back-off time for transmission through a physical layer for changing the probability of gaining access to the channel increases. The media access controller of claim 1, further characterized by an access controller for approving an application flow to the network and maintaining an agreed bandwidth for each approved application flow to the quality of service manager. Method for managing application flows with the steps: Monitoring a captured bandwidth of a current application flow in a wireless mesh network; Comparing the occupied bandwidth with an agreed bandwidth for the current application flow; and Requesting additional resources for the current application flow after the bandwidth taken up is significantly less than the agreed bandwidth monitoring, comparing, and requesting are performed by a current node of the wireless mesh network, and in response to the request for additional resources, a transmitting node receiving the request is a contention window for a lower quality of service level Application Flow is increased, where the transmitting node is another node of the wireless mesh network that transmits the current application flow. The method of claim 16, wherein the requesting includes setting a flag bit in reply packets to indicate to one or more transmitting nodes to provide greater bandwidth to the current application flow. The method of claim 16, wherein the requesting includes using signaling to instruct the transmitting node to reset the contention window after the agreed bandwidth is no longer significantly less than the agreed bandwidth. The method of claim 16, further characterized by responding to requests from one or more wireless mesh network nodes for additional resources for the current application flow by augmenting a lower quality of service level application flow dispute window in response to the requests. The method of claim 16, further characterized by terminating one or more lower quality-of-service level application flows after the bandwidth consumed remains significantly less than the agreed bandwidth for the current application flow, even after the transmitting node suspends the contention window for the one or more Lower quality-of-service level has increased application flows. The method of claim 20, further characterized by selecting one or more of the lower quality-of-service level application flows for termination based on a priority of an associated application flow. The method of claim 21, characterized in that the current application flow is one of a plurality of Higher Quality-of-service level application flows, wherein the Higher Quality-of-service level application flows one or more of a voice application flow or a video Application Flows include and wherein the one or more Lower Quality-of-Service Application Flows includes Background and Best Effort Application Flows. The method of claim 22, characterized in that the video application flow includes one or more multimedia application flows including a high-definition television application flow, a standard television application flow, and a streaming video application flow, and the background and best effort application flows include one or more of an Email Application Flow, an Internet Application Flow, a File Transfer Protocol Application Flow, a Transmission Control Application Flow, and a Universal Datagram Protocol Application Flow. The method of claim 16, further characterized by either providing additional bandwidth to Lower Quality-of-Service Level Application Flows or delaying the transmission of the current Application Flow after the occupied bandwidth is significantly larger than the agreed bandwidth. The method of claim 24, further characterized by increasing a dispute window for the current application flow to delay the transmissions of the current application flow after the occupied bandwidth is significantly greater than the agreed bandwidth. The method of claim 16, further characterized by communicating Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed Communication signals with one or more of the other nodes of the wireless mesh network, wherein the Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed Communication signals comprise a plurality of substantially orthogonal subcarriers. The method of claim 26, characterized in that the mesh network is a multichannel mesh network and wherein communicating comprises communicating with at least some of the other nodes of the mesh network having two or more orthogonal communication channels. The method of claim 26, further characterized by transmitting two or more data streams with two or more antennas to two or more of the other nodes of the wireless mesh network. The method of claim 16, further characterized by performing an Enhanced Distributed Coordinated Access procedure to access the wireless communication channel and wherein increasing the contention window increases a back-off time for transmissions to change a probability of gaining access to the channel. The method of claim 16 further characterized by the steps of: - Allow application flows to a network; and Providing an agreed bandwidth for each approved application flow for use in comparing with the consumed bandwidth for each approved application flow. Wireless router with A media access controller; and A physical layer for communicating with other nodes of a wireless mesh network, the media access controller comprising: A Quality of Service Manager to monitor the bandwidth consumed by a current application flow and to compare the bandwidth consumed for the current application flow; and A contention manager for coordinating access to a wireless communication channel for communication with other nodes of the network, Wherein the Quality of Service Manager is arranged to instruct the contention manager to request additional resources for the current application flow after the captured bandwidth is significantly less than the agreed bandwidth, and wherein a transmitting node receiving the request responds in response to the request for additional resources, to increase a contention window for a lower quality of service level application flow, wherein the transmitting node is one of the other nodes of the wireless mesh network transmitting the current application flow. A router according to claim 31, characterized in that the dispatch manager is further adapted to apply signaling to instruct the transmitting node to reset the contention window after the captured bandwidth is no longer significantly less than the agreed bandwidth. The router of claim 31, characterized in that the contention manager responds to requests from one or more of the other nodes of the wireless mesh network for additional resources for the current application flow, the contention manager being arranged to open a dispute window for a lower quality of Enlarge service level application flow in response to the requirements. System with: - one or more substantially omnidirectional antennas; A media access controller; and A physical layer for communicating with other nodes of a wireless mesh network, the media access controller comprising: A Quality of Service Manager to monitor the bandwidth consumed by a current application flow and to compare the bandwidth consumed for the current application flow; and A contention manager for coordinating access to a wireless communication channel for communication with other nodes of the network, Wherein the Quality of Service Manager is arranged to instruct the contention manager to request additional resources for the current application flow after the captured bandwidth is significantly less than the agreed bandwidth, and wherein a transmitting node receiving the request responds in response to the request for additional resources, to increase a contention window for a lower quality of service level application flow, wherein the transmitting node is one of the other nodes of the wireless mesh network transmitting the current application flow. A system according to claim 34, characterized in that the dispute manager continues to be set up is to apply signaling to instruct the transmitting node to reset the contention window after the captured bandwidth is no longer significantly less than the agreed bandwidth. The system of claim 34, characterized in that the conflict manager is responsive to requests from one or more of the other nodes of the wireless mesh network for additional resources for the current application flow, the conflict manager being arranged to open a dispute window for a lower quality of Enlarge service level application flow in response to the requirements. A machine-readable medium containing instructions that, when accessed, allow a machine to perform operations Monitoring the consumed bandwidth of a current application flow in a wireless mesh network; Comparing the occupied bandwidth with an agreed bandwidth for the current application flow; and Requesting additional resources for the current application flow after the captured bandwidth is significantly less than the agreed bandwidth, wherein a transmitting node receiving the request, in response to the request for additional resources, dispute window for a lower quality of service level Application Flow, where the transmitting node is one of the other nodes of the wireless mesh network that transmits the current application flow. The machine readable medium according to claim 37, characterized in that the instructions, when further accessed, the machine cause perform operations, wherein the requesting comprises the application of signaling to instruct the transmitting node to reset the contention window after the consumed bandwidth is no longer significantly less than the agreed bandwidth. The machine readable medium of claim 37, wherein the instructions, when further accessed, cause the machine to perform operations that further respond to the requests from one or more of the other nodes of the wireless mesh network for additional resources for the network current application flow by increasing a dispute window for a lower quality-of-service level to include application flows in response to the requirements.

Images